The handling of immobile patients is a major concern in the health care industry. Patients need to be moved from their beds to various places around their rooms and around the surrounding building, including hospital wheelchairs, tubs, toilets.
Designers of patient handling assemblies need to concern themselves not only with the safety and comfort of the patients, but also with the safety and well being of the medical personnel who move the patients. Patient seats must support the patients in safe, comfortable positions during transportation, and account for patient appurtenances such as catheters or hoses or bags. Patient handing systems must also reduce the effort required of the person assisting the transportation of the patient. Unfortunately, a large percentage of all back injuries occur in hospital personnel who attempt to move immobile patients This is often because persons not capable of lifting engage in moving patients from bed to various places. U.S. Pat. No. 4,748,701 to Marlowe et al. and U.S Pat. No. 2,272,778 to Reuter teach lifting a patient in a sling. This is an inexpensive and sometimes useful means for moving a patient around. However, because such slings collapse, they do not adequately support the patient during lifting. Patient appurtenances such as colostomy bags can be crushed against the patient. Also, stitches can be torn if the patient is jostled in a sling. In some cases, the patients legs dangle, possibly causing difficulty in moving the patient.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,387,473 to Gettner teaches a patient lifter with more support for the patient. Its rigid panels hingedly connect together and eliminate some of the problems created by using slings. However, the Gettner '473 patent discloses means for supporting the chair in predetermined positions which is unnecessarily complex, unadapting, and cumbersome. The chair support bracket and related assemblies for supporting the chair in a given position render the chair difficult if not impossible for performing such routine functions as moving the patient from a bed to a wheelchair, tub or toilet. If the assisting person needs to exert extra effort to move the patient somewhere or in some fashion which the chair assembly prohibits, the potential is created for some straining injury to the assisting person.